31 for 21: Blessings in a Hard Afternoon

*I've joined a blogging challenge for the month of October: Blog every day in October in honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month (Down syndrome is medically defined as Trisomy 21, and there are 31 days in October, hence the name 31 for 21). My posts will not necessarily be about Down syndrome, but I am writing as a person who 1) loves many people w/Down syndrome and other disabilities and 2) desires for others to be able to see what I see: remarkably unique people with much to offer to the world*

Today started out brilliantly.  I'd spent some sweet time reading God's Word before work at a coffee shop, came in caffeined-up and encouraged and ready to go.  I brought my crock pot in and got three of the guys to help me with a project right off the bat - making cider in a crock pot!  Who'd have thought! Two of the guys LOVED it and were so proud to have been involved.  I teased the one guy after spilling cloves all over his arm that it was a new cologne, and I called another "Mr Blue Hands" for the gloves he got to wear as he poured ingredients into the pot.  It was lovely - one of those glorious endeavors that makes me love my job. 

As the day went on, things got harder and harder.  We were short one staff member so I was bearing some extra burdens and asking my staff to do the same.  My coffee wore off and things got hectic around lunch time so I ate much later than I'd intended to.  i was cranky and hungry and extremely low on energy.  I eventually ate and sat briefly, but was still worn out and ready to be home.  The cider finished "brewing" at 2:00, and I ladled it into several clients' cups.  I placed a cup in front of one client and told him to not have any just yet because it was still hot.  I turned around to keep serving and heard a scream.  He hadn't heeded my warning, had jolted the hot drink, and hot cider had spilled on his stomach and upper arm.  The very drink that had started my day off with a beautiful bang suddenly made the end of my day pretty awful.  The client was yelling, I was scared and upset, the whole room got tense.  We got his shirt off and cooled him down as quickly as we could, but he still had a couple burns, though not bad ones, thankfully. Once he stopped being so startled, he started apologizing profusely for having spilled, and I told him it was ME that needed to apologize.  He got some first aid applied, a clean, dry shirt, and he wanted his cider back immediately (which didn't happen til I'd let it sit in the fridge forever AND added ice) and he was really pretty much over the whole thing. I, however, wasn't over it.  I made all the necessary phone calls, to his group home manager, her boss, our nurse, his sister, and a fax to the state to report the incident.  I was struggling to delegate out the rest of my day's tasks to get that reporting done, had a staff talk back to me which is RARE in this position and brought back horrific group home management memories, and I was flustered and upset.

BUT...

At the end of the day, I went to touch base with the guy who'd been burnt.  I asked if we were "ok."  He said yes, took my hand, and kissed it.  I asked if I was forgiven for not keeping the hot drink away from him, and he said yes.  I told him I was glad we were still friends, and he said "We always have been good friends" and sort of hugged my hand to his face again.  I wanted to cry he was so sweet. 

As I walked another client out to her van at the end of the day, I rested my hand on her shoulder while I waited by her wheelchair for her turn on the lift.  She, too, took my hand and kissed it.

Two of my often-dissatisfied ladies told me they'd had wonderful days today - and I could tell they meant it.

I had a music therapy session today right after all this, and this guy was not too thrilled to start his "fall break" with therapy.  He was almost as defiant as he gets...but his version of defiance consisted mostly of ignoring instructions to play or sing and instead patting me on the head or pretending to sleep on my shoulder.  Hey, I'll take it. 

I needed a whole lot of love to sort of soothe me through what had become a remarkably rough afternoon.  And the Lord provided in abundance - sweet, affectionate gestures from each of these people meant that I COULD and WOULD make it til 5:15 when my weekend would finally begin.